soft-story

soft-story
 adj.— «City officials have decided to speed an analysis of what to do about so-called soft-story buildings because the wood-frame structures are ubiquitous in San Francisco – possibly numbering in the tens of thousands – and probably represent a greater risk simply because of their numbers.» —“S.F.‘s concrete buildings also a quake danger” by Robert Selna San Francisco Chronicle (California) July 27, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Fat Wood and Fat Lighter

A Navy veteran recalls hearing the Southern expression fat lighter from his wife’s family in Troy, Alabama. It denotes an old, resin-rich pine wood that becomes highly flammable as it ages. Fat lighter is prized as kindling and often called fat...